Mission Trip 2023 Overview and Details
Step by Step, I will take you there...
Click here to get on my mailing list for updates and more information on the next trip to Bulembu...
Below, you can read and get an idea of the process of planning and booking your visit to Bulembu. I will guide you through the steps you will need to take to book your trip. I will attempt to give you an understanding of our trip's content, deadlines and prices.
Click here to get on my mailing list for updates and more information on the next trip to Bulembu...
Below, you can read and get an idea of the process of planning and booking your visit to Bulembu. I will guide you through the steps you will need to take to book your trip. I will attempt to give you an understanding of our trip's content, deadlines and prices.
Understanding the BASIC Mission Trip Package without any side trips or excursions...
Fly Non-stop on Delta from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa. Departs around 7 pm and lands the next might around 7 pm.
Stay in a nice hotel near the airport, the City Lodge, for the first night. We all eat supper together, and there is an ATM nearby so we can get your dollars changed into Rand. I suggest only getting about $100 worth of Rand, as you can use a credit card everywhere.
The next day, we travel to Mbabane, the capital city of Eswatini, and stay in the Mountain Inn.
Settle in and have lunch
Tour the headquarters of Challenge Ministries, Potters Wheel Church
Where one of the Pastors at Potter's Wheel Church will explain "How all this got started"
Time permitting and if it can be arranged we will visit an ICBC site.
ICBC — In Community by Community — A site where a starter orphanage is beginning to take shape
You will learn how all of the ICBC sites and Bulembu got started.
The next day, breakfast at Mountain Inn and then off to Bulembu, Swaziland — now formally called Eswatini.
We will drive about two hours over some interesting terrain and roads to reach Bulembu, Eswatini.
We will check in at the Bulembu Lodge and watch a movie about the history of Bulembu's beginning as a mining town and have Dinner at the Lodge
Then each day we will start the day with Breakfast in the Lodge and then a work project.
We will have a chance to meet the kids at their supper time in the main dining hall of Dvudvusi on the Friday we are in Bulembu
Stay 6 nights in the Bulembu Country Lodge
Work days at Home Renovation and other jobs as needed at the time we visit,
Spend time with the children at various venues.
On Sunday, we will attend church for about 1 1/2 hours.
We will check out of the Bulembu Lodge and head to the Hippo Hollow, a unique hotel right on the Sabie River for the next two nights.
The next day we will leave really early for an eight-hour a photo taking safari.
The next day we will check out and make a leisurely drive to the Joburg airport
The Flight back home is late in the afternoon so we will not be rushed to get back.
Costs per person: Note: All rooms assume two people sharing the cost of the room
Airfare about $2,300 per person
Use Google to set up and track your airfare: www.google.com/travel/flights If you are traveling from Atlanta to JoBurg on our planned dates for 2025 without excursions.
NOTE: The google.com link should open up a Google web page for the round-trip flight on Delta from Atlanta to Johannesburg. You will need to be logged into to your account on goggle.com.
Rooms, meals, Van transport, Safari, Tips and Misc. Cost: about $1,200 per person and will be frozen five months before our trip, when we know the exact head count for this year's Mission Trip. Estimated the Dollar to the Rand was $1 to 18 ZAR.
Track conversion of US Dollars to Rand here: CurrencyConverter
NOTE: Costs shown in red are estimates and as the airfare fluctuates it is recommended you follow the cost of the airfare and book when you feel it is at its lowest. I first paid over $2,000 on my first trip, and then in 2015, I got the fare at $1,283. This was a Co-Inky-Dink also, which I explained on the web page called... wait for it... Co-Inky-Dinks!
Stay in a nice hotel near the airport, the City Lodge, for the first night. We all eat supper together, and there is an ATM nearby so we can get your dollars changed into Rand. I suggest only getting about $100 worth of Rand, as you can use a credit card everywhere.
The next day, we travel to Mbabane, the capital city of Eswatini, and stay in the Mountain Inn.
Settle in and have lunch
Tour the headquarters of Challenge Ministries, Potters Wheel Church
Where one of the Pastors at Potter's Wheel Church will explain "How all this got started"
Time permitting and if it can be arranged we will visit an ICBC site.
ICBC — In Community by Community — A site where a starter orphanage is beginning to take shape
You will learn how all of the ICBC sites and Bulembu got started.
The next day, breakfast at Mountain Inn and then off to Bulembu, Swaziland — now formally called Eswatini.
We will drive about two hours over some interesting terrain and roads to reach Bulembu, Eswatini.
We will check in at the Bulembu Lodge and watch a movie about the history of Bulembu's beginning as a mining town and have Dinner at the Lodge
Then each day we will start the day with Breakfast in the Lodge and then a work project.
We will have a chance to meet the kids at their supper time in the main dining hall of Dvudvusi on the Friday we are in Bulembu
Stay 6 nights in the Bulembu Country Lodge
Work days at Home Renovation and other jobs as needed at the time we visit,
Spend time with the children at various venues.
On Sunday, we will attend church for about 1 1/2 hours.
We will check out of the Bulembu Lodge and head to the Hippo Hollow, a unique hotel right on the Sabie River for the next two nights.
The next day we will leave really early for an eight-hour a photo taking safari.
The next day we will check out and make a leisurely drive to the Joburg airport
The Flight back home is late in the afternoon so we will not be rushed to get back.
Costs per person: Note: All rooms assume two people sharing the cost of the room
Airfare about $2,300 per person
Use Google to set up and track your airfare: www.google.com/travel/flights If you are traveling from Atlanta to JoBurg on our planned dates for 2025 without excursions.
NOTE: The google.com link should open up a Google web page for the round-trip flight on Delta from Atlanta to Johannesburg. You will need to be logged into to your account on goggle.com.
Rooms, meals, Van transport, Safari, Tips and Misc. Cost: about $1,200 per person and will be frozen five months before our trip, when we know the exact head count for this year's Mission Trip. Estimated the Dollar to the Rand was $1 to 18 ZAR.
Track conversion of US Dollars to Rand here: CurrencyConverter
NOTE: Costs shown in red are estimates and as the airfare fluctuates it is recommended you follow the cost of the airfare and book when you feel it is at its lowest. I first paid over $2,000 on my first trip, and then in 2015, I got the fare at $1,283. This was a Co-Inky-Dink also, which I explained on the web page called... wait for it... Co-Inky-Dinks!
Understanding the Mission Trip Deadlines
The final dates have been confirmed by Bulembu Ministries Swaziland, now the Tour Van Company has to be hired and a final head count of how many mission volunteers are going. We will make room reservations for everywhere except the first night at the City Lodge in Joburg.
Here are the major milestones that lay before all of us:
STEP 1. You must commit to going by a deadline of five months before our trip and by sending Larry a deposit of $500 with the balance due three months before our trip.
Final payment of $X,XXX per person due: Notification by email about two months before our trip.
THE FINAL AMOUNT DEPENDS ON HOW MANY COMMIT TO GO and will be determined after our five-month deadline.
STEP 2. Book your flights we suggest four to five months prior to the planned departure date.
Check prices here - www.google.com/travel/flights If you are traveling from Atlanta to JoBurg on our planned dates for 2024 without excursions.
NOTE: The google.com link should open up a Google web page for the round-trip flight on Delta from Atlanta to Johannesburg. You will need to be logged into to your account on goggle.com.
Step 3. Deadline to Book your room in City Lodge on Barbara Road for Day 1 as shown on the Trip Plan - Mission 2024
Book City Lodge Via Expedia or Book on the Hotel's Web Site.
Make sure you book City Lodge Barbara Road
The Hotel's Web site only shows the cost in RAND!
NOTE: Check here for current African Rand to Dollar Conversion
Step 4. Deadline to go online and pay $20 for a police background check requested by Bulembu Management: October 13, 2023.
NOTE: An email will be sent out with a web link to a web portal to request the background check.
5. Deadline to sign and email Childcare Policy and BMS Liability Release: October 13, 2023 Watch for an email.
6. Packing list and other details
Click here to get on my mailing list for updates and more information on the next trip to Bulembu...
Here are the major milestones that lay before all of us:
STEP 1. You must commit to going by a deadline of five months before our trip and by sending Larry a deposit of $500 with the balance due three months before our trip.
Final payment of $X,XXX per person due: Notification by email about two months before our trip.
THE FINAL AMOUNT DEPENDS ON HOW MANY COMMIT TO GO and will be determined after our five-month deadline.
STEP 2. Book your flights we suggest four to five months prior to the planned departure date.
Check prices here - www.google.com/travel/flights If you are traveling from Atlanta to JoBurg on our planned dates for 2024 without excursions.
NOTE: The google.com link should open up a Google web page for the round-trip flight on Delta from Atlanta to Johannesburg. You will need to be logged into to your account on goggle.com.
Step 3. Deadline to Book your room in City Lodge on Barbara Road for Day 1 as shown on the Trip Plan - Mission 2024
Book City Lodge Via Expedia or Book on the Hotel's Web Site.
Make sure you book City Lodge Barbara Road
The Hotel's Web site only shows the cost in RAND!
NOTE: Check here for current African Rand to Dollar Conversion
Step 4. Deadline to go online and pay $20 for a police background check requested by Bulembu Management: October 13, 2023.
NOTE: An email will be sent out with a web link to a web portal to request the background check.
5. Deadline to sign and email Childcare Policy and BMS Liability Release: October 13, 2023 Watch for an email.
6. Packing list and other details
Click here to get on my mailing list for updates and more information on the next trip to Bulembu...